Zé Borrego the ‘Wolf Hand’ Ripper
José Domingos Borrego was born in Penamacor, Portugal. He wasn’t tall at only 5'7, but he was sturdy, weighing 90 kg. His most unique trait was a set of huge hands that could easily squeeze the life out of his victims, hence his nickname “Wolf Hand.” Borrego, 43, was a former shepherd, scissor sharpener, construction worker, and later a sewing machine tuner and trinkets salesman in fairs and markets.
He allegedly seduced several men and then brutally murdered them in rest-houses by choking them to death. Afterward, he would dispose of the victims by dismembering the bodies and spreading them along water lines, where they would “finally be purified”. Zé Borrego would explain to the police investigators how he could not resist the voice of the Virgin Mary saying? “Go to Lisbon and kill homosexuals” (sic). He confessed all his crimes but was never convicted.
Case 1:
Zé Borrego allegedly had a feud with his business partner, José Pedro dos Reis, known as “Sanduga,” because the latter didn’t want to return a large sum of money he had borrowed. The two men had been shacking up for a month and a half in the Lisbon district.
At some point in the altercation, things escalated, Sanduga threw the bills at Borrego, yelling, “Take the money and shove up it up your arse!” José immediately grabbed him by the neck, suffocating the poor man, and then smashed his head with a stone.
The police reports mention how Borrego laid down resting for half an hour in the shack next to Sanduga’s and spent the night thinking about getting rid of the body. Afterward, he took a saw and started cutting the corpse into pieces starting from the head downwards.
Borrego put the torso in a plastic bag and the head and limbs in another one, placing all the parts in a wooden suitcase. Sanduga was disfigured beyond recognition; he had his eyeballs plucked out, and the ears cut off. The very next day, Zé traveled by train to the capital with his morbid luggage. From there, he went to the municipal dumpsite in Paço de Arcos, where he disposed of the victim’s head, arms, and legs. He didn’t want to leave the remains all in one place; hence he went back to his shack to spend the night. The next day, he again took the bloody suitcase and travelled to the southern bank of the Tejo river. He went to Quinta de São João, where he had worked. There, he dumped the second half of the body into an empty well.
Nevertheless, despite Borrego’s efforts to conceal the corpse, Sanduga’s remains were eventually found. The man had a criminal record. Therefore the forensic police managed to process his fingerprints and got a matching ID. After a brief inquiry, authorities made the connection to José Borrego, and he was detained. With Zé Borrego under custody, investigators dug into other unsolved crimes, and Leonel Abrantes da Cunha’s case file surfaced. He had also been found partially disfigured and half-naked in the Setúbal district and had also been seen in the company of a man resembling Zé Borrego.
Case 2:
Leonel was a married tailor and coffee smuggler from Manteigas, living on the outskirts of Portalegre. He was also a convicted felon with a criminal record like “Sanduga.” The police investigators traced back the connection between José Borrego and Leonel da Cunha to the Onion Fair in Portalegre, where they had a business together. Borrego told the police how one night, when they were both drunk, Leonel took him to a friend’s house, where they stayed overnight. The next day, after parting ways, Zé noticed his razor blade was missing.
Believing Leonel had stolen it, he confronted him. They fought, but Borrego had the upper hand and choked him to death with his hands.
November 16, 1970: a young woman, Silvina Barbas Salvado, discovers a dismembered corpse with a mauled face near Moscavide. Leonel da Cunha was wearing only an undershirt and had been choked and beaten to death.
Case 3:
He began to direct his thirst for blood towards male homosexuality. That’s how he allegedly approached several men planning to kill, quarter them, and scatter the remains near water lines all over the Lisbon area.
The authorities were able to establish the connection between the murderer and at least four dead people. However, Borrego had already admitted having killed at least ten more, as he travelled from land to land and disposing of the bodies without raising suspicions.
In the Lisbon Penitentiary, the guards were known to despise murderers and his custodians allegedly beat Zé Borrego to the point he promised to kill two of the guards or kill himself.
He was a cold-blooded psychopathic killer who confessed to all his crimes, but he never faced trial. One morning he was found hanging by the neck in the cell; legend has it, he used his own pants as hangman’s rope.
